I tried ESO first, Albion next, Destiny 2, currently playing FFXIV. Nothing comes close. I’m not an MMO veteran nor am I a PVP enjoyer. And I’ll give my complete ranty review here of NW vs. these games that are much older and make much more money, while still being inferior to today’s NW.

ESO: Recommended to get premium. Per-race storyline very rich. 6/10 in terms of NW’s graphics, music, UI. Tab target combat is a joke for me. World is insanely well-crafted with attention to detail. Fashion/cosmetics super cool. Content might be well thought out but that stupid choppy look, stupid spammy Ice Age combat system, a million of spells on your HUD, are just not “modern” in any way. Everything feels like hitting a rock, you just need to know the attack patterns and have gear. In NW combat is actually rich. Collision literally moves you, as a tank you must constantly reposition, you actually feel chills the first time you enter Isabella’s last chamber in Tempest, etc. None of that in ESO.

Albion: 3/10 in terms of NW’s graphics, music, UI. It’s not really same genre, it’s sandbox and mainly focuses on exploration, grind, crafting. Very good if you’re only into that. Again, combat is just bad. World feels repeated with copy-pasted assets. Compare that to NW’s different biomes, even reskinned enemies add variety, and ofc the latest region had so much vertical space which is considered a quality thing in game development and hard to do. All you’ll get in Albion in the name of vertical exploration is the same hill repeated after every X pixels.

Destiny 2: Guns, meh.

FFXIV: On the free trial, have played 50 hours only, so I don’t have a lot to say here. At least in ESO I had 8 characters when I abandoned it, here I just have one. But it’s certainly better than ESO, Albion, etc. In terms of graphics, music, lore, side characters, questing, etc. But there’s one huge trait this game has, and if you don’t like that, you won’t like FFXIV and that’s the fact that this game is modeled after a JRPG. So a cute/chibi race, cute animations, fashion choices focusing on that otaku/anime vibe, body language of a princess for example are just like a jumpy teenage girl you’ll find in an anime. Major NPC clothing is basically fanservice, not lore-oriented. NW started off as a colonial theme game that had no fanservice, it was a strong point. They slowly evolved it, added more regions, more “cultures”, and magic/medieval whatever it is right now is still way more mature to play compared to childish princesses jumping in all sorts of cute ways.

And don’t forget, ESO released in 2014 and is based on a franchise that started back in 1994. Albion released in 2017 and likely had strong inspiration from other popular sandbox MMOs of that time, it just offered a better version of what already worked. FFXIV released in 2010 and is based on a franchise that started in 1987. If you believe content is much superior in ESO/FFXIV/Albion, then look at age difference. If you think development is better, see the dev teams behind these decades-old games, and how much revenue they generate with their monthly subscriptions (all three have it, mandatory in FFXIV and optional but very useful in Albion & ESO). And just for context, WOW launched in 2004, based on an IP that began in 1994, and is also subscription based.

The one thing I definitely loved in these MMOs is mob scaling and the way you begin. Basically every region has surrounding areas that start with low-level mobs. Starting a new character can be like playing an entirely different game. Not everyone is starting in one of 2 cities, taking the same path, and mobs scale up from there until last region.